The Port of Galveston has reported that its new $156 mill cruise terminal No 16 is on track to open on schedule in the autumn.
This is down to the work by the port’s engineering staff and port partners, including architects, Bermello Ajamil and contractors Hensel Phelps and Orion Marine Services.
The port said that it will celebrate the opening of its fourth cruise terminal in November, welcoming MSC Cruises’ ‘MSC Seascape’ for her first sailing from Galveston. The terminal also will be utilised by Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH) ships.
This project involves transforming two existing cargo buildings into a 160,000 sq ft cruise terminal. A newly constructed two-story vertical core, with elevators, escalators, stairs, and a passenger ramp, will connect the structures.
Passengers will access cruise ships via a new concourse leading to two passenger boarding bridges (PBBs) custom-built by Spanish bridge builder, ADELTE.
It also includes the port’s first newly built, onsite parking garage. The seven-story precast concrete garage will provide more than 1,600 spaces. A dedicated ground transportation area under the garage will accommodate buses, shuttles, ride share vehicles, and taxis.
The 25.5 acre cruise complex also encompasses new paved surface parking lots totaling 733 spaces, landscaping, a public plaza and roadway upgrades.
Orion Marine Services is upgrading the marine infrastructure to handle a 5,500 pax cruise vessel, including new mooring foundations, bollards and fenders.
Hensel Phelps, Terminal 16 project construction manager, has provided pre-construction and construction services on other major projects at the port, including the newly built cruise terminal No 10 for Royal Caribbean and major renovations at terminal No 25, home to Carnival Cruise Line.
The company embarked upon terminal No 16 work in July, 2024 and is scheduled for completion this September. Concrete foundations were finished in December, last year, air conditioning units installed in March, 2025 and electrical generators installed in April. Work also included new roofs on both buildings.
Parking garage erection began in December, 2024 and will be complete by the end of April. Hensel Phelps cut the construction schedule by building the garage with pre-cast concrete. The parking garage was initially designed as a cast-in-place structure.
Major milestones between now and July include placing toping slabs at the garage, bringing permanent power online and completing elevator installations.
To date, Hensel Phelps said it had employed 825 craft workers and logged 185,000 work hours without a lost-time injury. At peak, 275 construction workers will be onsite.
Galveston port’s engineering staff is co-ordinating and overseeing the project, along with five other major construction projects to expand the West Port cargo complex.
